rued awakening << rude awakening

A “rued awakening” makes at least as much sense as a “rude awakening.” A web search for this idiomatic alteration shows that many dozens of writers have succumbed to the charms of “rued.”

A few of the web examples are no doubt deliberate puns. “Rued awakening” has even found its way onto the Pretty Good Jokes page of the Prairie Home Companion site. Most authors of these “rued” examples, though, seem to be unaware that they are perverting the historical idiom. Here are three of them:
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I was hesitant at first to concede that “rued awakening” could be an eggcorn rather than a simple misspelling. “Rude” seems to me vigorous, obvious, while “rue” seems decadent and decaying. Replacing “rude” with “rue” would make water run uphill. Apparently, however, I am out of touch with trends in own language, as this Google Ngram shows. “Rude” is is on a multicentury fade, rescued only by its idiomatic embeddings, while “rue” is at least holdings its own, perhaps even extending its popularity.

Beadwof , by the way, applauds this eggcorn. “Rude,” perhaps because of its similarity to the thoroughly Teutonic “rood” and “rue,” tends to pass itself off as a word with deep Germanic roots. It is actually Anglo-Norman, an Italian sheep in the clothing of a Northern Wolf.